The West and Big Business

Why was legislation like the Homestead Act not passed before the Civil War?

• No interest in passing legislation to open up the west.

• Concern for Indians

• Southern legislators feared the west would not be founded on a plantation economy which would threaten slavery

• Republican legislators opposed government handouts to people who are of lower socioeconomic status.

What all were parts of the Homestead act BUT

• Person receiving land had to be a male European American

• Those receiving land could not be Confederate Veterans

• 160 Acres given to those who applied for land.

• Must be a US Citizen or going through the naturalization process.

"Rain follows the Plow" wrongfully advertised...

• This was not a real advertisement.

• The Great Plains was not actually a dry climate.

• How good the land in the American South was for settlement by Northern Whites who fought in the Civil War on the side of the Union

• Plowing land on the Great Plains would make precipitation become more frequent in the formerly dry climate.

Immigrants worked to keep their culture through establishing

• They did not want to keep their culture.

• Ethnic institutions.

• English Language Schools.

• Moving back to Europe.

Sod homes were popular for all of the following EXCEPT

• Cheap cost to build

• Common "running water"

• Good insulation

• Lack of wood

The life of the American Cowboy was...

• Exciting and full of fights with Indians

• Boring, low paying, tough work.

• A good job that paid well

Cattle were unowned following the Civil War because

• The owners lost their cows because they wandered off due to the open range

• It was impossible to know which cows belonged to specific individuals

• Branding irons had not been invented yet.

• Owners were fighting the Civil War and were not present to sort or brand cattle.

Cowtowns were

• Small towns in Texas

• Meat packing communities in the Eastern United States

• Communities on railheads where cattle would be sold to packing representatives.

• Towns where there were more cows than people.

The Homestead Act encouraged people to move West because it..

• established ranching towns for cattle drivers.
• offered free land to those willing to farm it.
• offered land to gold prospectors.
• promised protection from Native Americans.

Which of the following might a vigilante in a boomtown have been likely to say?

• "We should elect a sheriff and a judge to enforce the law."
• "Let's give crooks the kind of justice they deserve."
• "We shouldn't have to pay taxes unless we get something in return."
• "Our community needs more churches and schools."